Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurates NTCWPC at IIT Madras worth Rs. 77 crore

According to the ministry of ports, shipping, and waterways, this centre wants to facilitate research and development for the marine sector, providing solutions to attaining the ultimate objective of establishing a strong marine industry in the nation.

Sarbananda Sonowal, the Union Minister for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, inaugurated the National Technology Centre for Ports, Waterways, and Coasts (NTCWPC) on Monday in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

In order to serve as the R&D a centre for developing solutions to enable the marine sector in India, NTCWPC has been built at IIT Chennai for a cost of Rs. 77 crore.

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The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways stated, “This centre aims at enabling Research & development for the marine sector enabling solutions towards achieving the ultimate goal of building a robust marine industry in the country.”

“This state-of-the-art centre will ensure advancement in the field of maritime technology, as well as modernisation & upgradation possibilities in the port & operations towards achieving the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat by 2047,” it further continued.

“With the inauguration of this state-of-the-art centre dedicated towards research and development of technological solutions to enable growth of marine sector, we move closer to achieving the vision of our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji to make India an atmanirbhar country. The role of marine sector is supreme in the nation building. As we continue to embark on our journey to improve our performance, such centres will play a pivotal role in this regard.”Speaking on the occasion, Sonowal said.

“We believe that our rich & talented pool of engineers & scientists will provide cutting edge modern solutions able to deal with dynamic challenges of the marine sector. By developing a multi modal system of logistics movement, the vision of Prime Minister Modi ji to empower our logistics sector to become efficient yet cost effective through PM National Gate Shakti has received a tremendous shot in the arm with the launch of this centre. Our Sagarmala programme has been designed to bring in transformation in the existing system to become modern, world class ports and power the engine of growth of India,” he continued.

The minister also promised that this facility would grow to include more innovation hubs and world-class lab facilities to support maritime start-ups.

The NTCPWC will conduct applied research while examining while encouraging port and maritime industry activities in order to further the goals of the Sagarmala Programme. Major ports such as Deendayal Port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Paradeep Port, Chennai Port, Kamarajar Port, VOC port, New Mangalore Port, and Visakhapatnam Port generously donated to the establishment of the institute. The Inland Waterways Authority of India has likewise made significant contributions. Providing significant case study centres for this project are the SMP Kolkata, Mormugao Port, and Cochin Port.

The ministry claims that new technology a centre would also significantly lower the cost of research, which will save money and time for jobs in the port and maritime sectors.